It is known to collectively distribute software to a collection of computers in a network. An administrator defines the collection of computers which are to receive the software and the software is downloaded in a mass distribution. The distribution is carried out using a systems management tool an example of which is Microsoft's Configuration Manager.
Users on a network may require software which is additional to that preinstalled on their computers and additional to any collectively distributed to the computers. In some organizations, a user may request the software he or she wants by sending a request to a network administrator and/or seeking approval from a manager. If the request is approved the software may be downloaded to, and installed on, the user's computer via the systems management tool. The approval process is manual and expensive to operate. It is thus desirable to minimize the use of a manual approval process.
It is known to provide on an enterprise (corporate) network a web portal which allows users to download and install preapproved software, thus reducing the cost of approving individual requests for software. However, even with such a portal, some requests for software may still need to be processed manually because the portal does not provide access to the requested software. Again it is desirable to minimize the use of a manual approval process.
Networks can be very large with hundreds or even thousands of computers which may be spread over many different locations. It is difficult to record all manual requests for software.